Tea Partiers disappointed, not disappearing

Crowds of Tea Party activists gathered inside and outside of the Capitol to protest the re-election of Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, Monday.

Conservative activists have long complained that Straus was too moderate to be speaker for the 82nd Session of the Legislature – blaming his dependence on moderate Republicans and Democrats for the House’s failure to take up controversial immigration, border security and Voter ID bills in the last session.

“I think he put way too many Democrats and progressives in key committee chairmanships,” said Steve Baysinger, a Republican precinct chairman from northern Bexar County, who said he supported Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, for speaker. He also said he thought Straus wasn’t a strong enough supporter of anti-abortion measures.

“That’s what makes me a non-Straus supporter,” Baysinger said.

Other Tea Party supporters, who were waiting in line for a seat in the House Gallery to watch the Speaker’s vote, offered similar sentiments.

“I understand that it’s probably a given that Straus is our new speaker of the House,” said Lynn Schwind of New Braunfels. “We just want to remind our reps that we’re watching them and that we care.”

Schwind said it was time to get behind Straus and support him during the upcoming session. She also said she would like to see more conservatives have committee chairmanships due to the results of the 2010 election.

Not all Tea Party supporters were as amicable to the idea of Straus as House Speaker.

“We want the Constitution, as it was written, to be followed and we would like for people to know that God was a part of the founding of this nation,” said Sherry Fleming of Clay County, located between Wichita Falls and Dallas. “Christianity was a big part of the founding of this nation and we seem to have pushed that aside and have become a secular society.”

“I would be more comfortable if the Speaker of the House were a Christian,” Fleming said. When asked if Joe Straus’ Judaism motivated her opposition to him as speaker, she said it didn’t.

“Absolutely not,” Fleming said. “I love the Jewish people.”

Fleming said she opposed Straus because she wasn’t sure of what Straus stood for, though she said she had heard he was in favor of abortion rights and supported Planned Parenthood.

Straus has previously assured conservative activists that he is “pro-life” and supports restrictions on abortion access.

Republicans have a historic majority in the Texas House after the 2010 election swept in a wave of highly conservative, Tea Party-backed, representatives.

Conservative activists thought that would give them a shot at beating Straus, a man they’ve never forgiven for toppling Tom Craddick, the controversial former Speaker and conservative iconoclast.

In the end, Straus won re-election in a convincing fashion. Even one of the leaders of the conservative insurrection against the man from San Antonio — Warren Chisum, R-Pampa — ended up voting for the incumbent on the House floor today.

A small crowd of more than 100 Tea Party supporters gathered at a rally that was being held, in the cold on the south steps of the Capitol, to voice their disappointment at what was happening inside the House chamber.

“Some folks think we shouldn’t be here today — they think we should have gone home after Nov. 2,” said former Representative Rick Green, of Dripping Springs, who addressed the crowd. “We have found our voices and shaken each other from our slumber and said it’s time to be involved. The last election was a huge message to the politicians that we the people are here to stay.”